POSSIBILITIES OPEN TO THE SPANISH NAVY AT THE BEGINNING OF
THE WAR.--THE REASONS FOR BLOCKADING CUBA.--FIRST
MOVEMENTS OF THE SQUADRONS UNDER ADMIRALS SAMPSON AND
CERVERA.
For the reasons just stated, it was upon Cervera's squadron that the
attention of instructed military students was chiefly turned at the
outset of the war. Grave suspicions as to its efficiency, indeed, were
felt in many quarters, based partly upon actual knowledge of the
neglect of the navy practised by the Spanish Government, and partly
upon the inference that the general incapacity evident for years past
in all the actions of the Spanish authorities, and notably in Cuba,
could not but extend to the navy,--one of the most sensitive and
delicate parts of any political organization; one of the first to go
to pieces when the social and political foundations of a State are
shaken, as was notably shown in the French Revolution. But, though
suspected, the ineffectiveness of that squadron could not be assumed
before proved. Until then--to use the words of an Italian writer who
has treated the whole subject of this war with comprehensive and
instructive perspicacity--Spain had "the possibility of contesting the
command of the sea, and even of securing a definite preponderance, by
means of a squadron possessed of truly exceptional characteristics,
both tactical and strategic,"--in short, by means of a "fleet in
being."
It is true that in this estimate the writer quoted included the
_Carlos V._, a new and high-powered armored cruiser, and also a number
of protected cruisers and of torpedo vessels, of various kinds, all
possessing a rate of speed much superior to the more distinctly
fighting ships in which consisted the strength of the United States
squadrons. Such a fleet, homogeneous in respect to the particular
function which constitutes the power of a "fleet in being," whose
effectiveness lies in its legs and in its moral effect, in its power
to evade pursuit and to play upon the fears of an enemy, should be
capable of rapid continuous movement; and such a fleet Spain actually
possessed when the war broke out--only it was not ready. "This
splendid fleet," resumed our Italian critic, giving rein, perhaps, to
a Southern imagination, but not wholly without just reason, "would be
in a condition to impose upon the enemy the character which the
conflict should assume, alike in strategy and in tactics, and thereby
could draw the best and greatest advantage from the actual situation,
with a strong probability of partial results calculated to restore the
equilibrium between the two belligerent fleets, or even of successes
so decisive, if obtained immediately after the declaration of war, as
to include a possibility of a Spanish preponderance." The present
writer guards himself from being understood to accept fully this
extensive programme for a fleet distinctly inferior in actual
combative force; but the general assumption of the author quoted
indicates the direction of effort which alone held out a hope of
success, and which for that reason should have been vigorously
followed by the Spanish authorities.
As the Spanish Navy--whatever its defects in organization and
practice--is not lacking in thoughtful and instructed officers, it is
probable that the despatch of Cervera with only four ships, instead of
at least the five armored cruisers well qualified to act together,
which he might have had, not to speak of the important auxiliaries
also disposable, was due to uninstructed popular and political
pressure, of the same kind that in our country sought to force the
division of our fleet among our ports. That the Spanish Government was
thus goaded and taunted, at the critical period when Cervera was lying
in Santiago, is certain. To that, most probably, judging from the
words used in the Cortes, we owe the desperate sortie which delivered
him into our hands and reduced Spain to inevitable submission. "The
continuance of Cervera's division in Santiago, and its apparent
inactivity," stated a leading naval periodical in Madrid, issued two
days before the destruction of the squadron, "is causing marked
currents of pessimism, and of disaffection towards the navy,
especially since the Yankees have succeeded in effecting their
proposed landing. This state of public feeling, which has been
expressed with unrestricted openness in some journals, has been
sanctioned in Congress by one of the Opposition members uttering very
unguarded opinions, and reflecting injuriously upon the navy itself,
as though upon it depended having more or fewer ships." The Minister
of Marine, replying in the Cortes, paraphrased as follows, without
contradiction, the words of this critic, which voiced, as it would
appear, a popular clamor: "You ask, 'Why, after reaching Santiago, has
the squadron not gone out, and why does it not now go out?' Why do
four ships not go out to fight twenty? You ask again: 'If it does not
go out, if it does not hasten to seek death, what is the use of
squadrons? For what are fleets built, if not to be lost?' We are bound
to believe, Señor Romero Robledo, that your words in this case express
neither what you intended to say nor your real opinion." Nevertheless,
they seem not to have received correction, nor to have been retracted;
and to the sting of them, and of others of like character, is
doubtless due the express order of the Ministry under which Cervera
quitted his anchorage.
Like ourselves, our enemy at the outset of the war had his fleet in
two principal divisions: one still somewhat formless and as yet
unready, but of very considerable power, was in the ports of the
Peninsula; the other--Cervera's--at the Cape Verde Islands, a
possession of Portugal. The latter was really exceptional in its
qualities, as our Italian author has said. It was exceptional in a
general sense, because homogeneous and composed of vessels of very
high qualities, offensive and defensive; it was exceptional also, as
towards us in particular, because we had of the same class but two
ships,--one-half its own force,--the _New York_ and the _Brooklyn_;
and, moreover, we had no torpedo cruisers to oppose to the three which
accompanied it. These small vessels, while undoubtedly an encumbrance
to a fleet in extended strategic movements in boisterous seas, because
they cannot always keep up, are a formidable adjunct--tactical in
character--in the day of battle, especially if the enemy has none of
them; and in the mild Caribbean it was possible that they might not
greatly delay their heavy consorts in passages which would usually be
short.
The two main divisions of the Spanish fleet were thus about fifteen
hundred miles apart when war began on the 25th of April. The
neutrality of Portugal made it impossible for Cervera to remain long
in his then anchorage, and an immediate decision was forced upon his
Government. It is incredible that among the advisers of the Minister
of Marine--himself a naval officer--there was no one to point out that
to send Cervera at once to the Antilles, no matter to what port, was
to make it possible for the United States to prevent any future
junction between himself and the remaining vessels of their navy. The
squadron of either Sampson or Schley was able to fight him on terms of
reasonable equality, to say the least. Either of our divisions,
therefore, was capable of blockading him, if caught in port; and it
was no more than just to us to infer that, when once thus cornered, we
should, as we actually did at Santiago, assemble both divisions, so as
to render escape most improbable and the junction of a reinforcement
practically impossible. Such, in fact, was the intention from the very
first: for, this done, all our other undertakings, Cuban blockade and
what not, would be carried on safely, under cover of our watching
fleet, were the latter distant ten miles or a thousand from such other
operations. The writer, personally, attaches but little importance to
the actual consequences of strictly offensive operations attempted by
a "fleet in being," when of so inferior force. As suggested by Spanish
and foreign officers, in various publications, they have appeared to
him fantastic pranks of the imagination, such as he himself indulged
in as a boy, rather than a sober judgment formed after considering
both sides of the case. "I cannot but admire Captain Owen's zeal,"
wrote Nelson on one occasion, "in his anxious desire to get at the
enemy, but I am afraid it has made him overleap sandbanks and tides,
and laid him aboard the enemy. I am as little used to find out the
impossible as most folks, and I think I can discriminate between the
impracticable and the fair prospect of success." The potentialities of
Cervera's squadron, after reaching the Spanish Antilles, must be
considered under the limitations of his sandbanks and tides; of
telegraph cables betraying his secrets, of difficulties and delays in
coaling, of the chances of sudden occasional accidents to which all
machinery is liable, multiplied in a fleet by the number of vessels
composing it; and to these troubles, inevitable accompaniments of
such operations, must in fairness be added the assumption of
reasonable watchfulness and intelligence on the part of the United
States, in the distribution of its lookouts and of its ships.
The obvious palliative to the disadvantage thus incurred by Spain
would have been to add to Cervera ships sufficient to force us at
least to unite our two divisions, and to keep them joined. This,
however, could not be done at once, because the contingent in Spain
was not yet ready; and fear of political consequences and public
criticism at home, such as that already quoted, probably deterred the
enemy from the correct military measure of drawing Cervera's squadron
back to the Canaries, some eight hundred or nine hundred miles; or
even to Spain, if necessary. This squadron itself had recently been
formed in just this way; two ships being drawn back from the Antilles
and two sent forward from the Peninsula. If Spain decided to carry on
the naval war in the Caribbean,--and to decide otherwise was to
abandon Cuba in accordance with our demand,--she should have sent all
the armored ships she could get together, and have thrown herself
frankly, and at whatever cost, upon a mere defensive policy for her
home waters, relying upon coast defences--or upon mere luck, if need
were--for the safety of the ports. War cannot be made without running
risks. When you have chosen your field for fighting, you must
concentrate upon it, letting your other interests take their chance.
To do this, however, men must have convictions, and conviction must
rest upon knowledge, or else ignorant clamor and contagious panic will
sweep away every reasonable teaching of military experience. And so
Cervera went forth with his four gallant ships, foredoomed to his fate
by folly, or by national false pride, exhibited in the form of
political pressure disregarding sound professional judgment and
military experience. We were not without manifestations here of the
same uninstructed and ignoble outcry; but fortunately our home
conditions permitted it to be disregarded without difficulty.
Nevertheless, although under circumstances thus favorable we escaped
the worst effects of such lack of understanding, the indications were
sufficient to show how hard, in a moment of real emergency, it will be
for the Government to adhere to sound military principles, if there
be not some appreciation of these in the mass of the people; or, at
the very least, among the leaders to whom the various parts of the
country are accustomed to look for guidance.
It may be profitable at this point to recall a few dates; after which
the narrative, avoiding superfluous details, can be continued in such
outline as is required for profitable comment, and for eliciting the
more influential factors in the course of events, with the consequent
military lessons from them to be deduced.
On April 20th the President of the United States approved the joint
resolution passed by the two Houses of Congress, declaring the
independence of Cuba, and demanding that Spain should relinquish her
authority there and withdraw her forces. A blockade, dated April 22nd,
was declared of the north coast of Cuba, from Cardenas on the east to
Bahia Honda, west of Havana, and of the port of Cienfuegos on the
south side of the island. On April 25th a bill declaring that war
between the United States and Spain existed, and had existed since the
21st of the month, was passed by Congress and approved the same
evening by the President, thus adding another instance to the now
commonplace observation that hostilities more frequently precede than
follow a formal declaration. On April 29th, Admiral Cervera's
division--four armored cruisers and three torpedo destroyers--quitted
the Cape de Verde Islands for an unknown destination, and disappeared
during near a fortnight from the knowledge of the United States
authorities. On May 1, Commodore Dewey by a dash, the rapidity and
audacity of which reflected the highest credit upon his professional
qualities, destroyed the Spanish squadron at Manila, thereby
paralyzing also all Spanish operations in the East. The Government of
the United States was thus, during an appreciable time, and as it
turned out finally, released from all military anxiety about the
course of events in that quarter.
Meantime the blockade of the Cuban coasts, as indicated above, had
been established effectively, to the extent demanded by international
law, which requires the presence upon the coast, or before the port,
declared blockaded, of such a force as shall constitute a manifest
danger of capture to vessels seeking to enter or to depart. In the
reserved, not to say unfriendly, attitude assumed by many of the
European States, the precise character of which is not fully known,
and perhaps never will be, it was not only right, but practically
necessary, to limit the extent of coast barred to merchant ships to
that which could be thus effectually guarded, leaving to neutral
governments no sound ground for complaint. Blockade is one of the
rights conceded to belligerent States, by universal agreement, which
directly, as well as indirectly, injures neutrals, imposing pecuniary
losses by restraints upon trade previously in their hands. The ravages
of the insurrection and the narrow policy of Spain in seeking to
monopolize intercourse with her colonies had, indeed, already
grievously reduced the commerce of the island; but with our war there
was sure to spring up a vigorous effort, both legal and contraband, to
introduce stores of all kinds, especially the essentials of life, the
supply of which was deficient. Such cargoes, not being clearly
contraband, could be certainly excluded only by blockade; and the
latter, in order fully to serve our military objects, needed at the
least to cover every port In railway communication with Havana, where
the bulk of the Spanish army was assembled. This it was impossible to
effect at the first, because we had not ships enough; and therefore,
as always in such cases, a brisk neutral trade, starting from Jamaica
and from Mexico, as well as from Europe and the North American
Continent, was directed upon the harbors just outside the limits of
the blockade,--towards Sagua la Grande and adjacent waters in the
north, and to Batabano and other ports in the south. Such trade would
be strictly lawful, from an international standpoint, unless declared
by us to be contraband, because aiding to support the army of the
enemy; and such declarations, by which provisions are included in the
elastic, but ill-defined category of contraband, tend always to
provoke the recriminations and unfriendliness of neutral states.
Blockade avoids the necessity for definitions, for by it all goods
become contraband; the extension of it therefore was to us imperative.
As things were, although this neutral trade frustrated our purposes to
a considerable degree, it afforded us no ground for complaint. On the
contrary, we were at times hard driven by want of vessels to avoid
laying ourselves open to reclamation, on the score of the blockade
being invalid, even within its limited range, because ineffective.
This was especially the case at the moment when the army was being
convoyed from Tampa, as well as immediately before, and for some days
after that occasion: before, because it was necessary then to detach
from the blockade and to assemble elsewhere the numerous small vessels
needed to check the possible harmful activity of the Spanish gunboats
along the northern coast, and afterwards, because the preliminary
operations about Santiago, concurring with dark nights favorable to
Cervera's escape, made it expedient to retain there many of the
lighter cruisers, which, moreover, needed recoaling,--a slow business
when so many ships were involved. Our operations throughout
labored--sometimes more, sometimes less--under this embarrassment,
which should be borne in mind as a constant, necessary, yet perplexing
element in the naval and military plans. The blockade, in fact, while
the army was still unready, and until the Spanish Navy came within
reach, was the one decisive measure, sure though slow in its working,
which could be taken; the necessary effect of which was to bring the
enemy's ships to this side of the ocean, unless Spain was prepared to
abandon the contest. The Italian writer already quoted, a fair critic,
though Spanish in his leanings, enumerates among the circumstances
most creditable to the direction of the war by the Navy Department the
perception that "blockade must inevitably cause collapse, given the
conditions of insurrection and of exhaustion already existing in the
island."
From this specific instance, the same author, whose military judgments
show much breadth of view, later on draws a general conclusion which is
well worth the attention of American readers, because much of our
public thought is committed to the belief that at sea private property,
so called,--that is, merchant ships and their cargoes,--should not be
liable to capture in war; which, duly interpreted, means that the
commerce of one belligerent is not to be attacked or interrupted by the
other. "Blockade," says our Italian, "is the fundamental basis of the
conflict for the dominion of the seas, when the contest cannot be
brought to an immediate issue;" that is, to immediate battle. Blockade,
however, is but one form of the unbloody pressure brought to bear upon
an enemy by interruption of his commerce. The stoppage of commerce, in
whole or in part, exhausts without fighting. It compels peace without
sacrificing life. It is the most scientific warfare, because the least
sanguinary, and because, like the highest strategy, it is directed
against the communications,--the resources,--not the persons, of the
enemy. It has been the glory of sea-power that its ends are attained by
draining men of their dollars instead of their blood. Eliminate the
attack upon an enemy's sea-borne commerce from the conditions of naval
war,--in which heretofore it has been always a most important
factor,--and the sacrifice of life will be proportionately increased,
for two reasons: First, the whole decision of the contest will rest
upon actual conflict; and, second, failing decisive results in battle,
the war will be prolonged, because by retaining his trade uninjured the
enemy retains all his money power to keep up his armed forces.
The establishment and maintenance of the blockade therefore was, in
the judgment of the present writer, not only the first step in order,
but also the first, by far, in importance, open to the Government of
the United States as things were; prior, that is, to the arrival of
Cervera's division at some known and accessible point. Its importance
lay in its twofold tendency; to exhaust the enemy's army in Cuba, and
to force his navy to come to the relief. No effect more decisive than
these two could be produced by us before the coming of the hostile
navy, or the readiness of our own army to take the field, permitted
the contest to be brought, using the words of our Italian commentator,
"to an immediate issue." Upon the blockade, therefore, the generally
accepted principles of warfare would demand that effort should be
concentrated, until some evident radical change in the conditions
dictated a change of object,--a new objective; upon which, when
accepted, effort should again be concentrated, with a certain amount
of "exclusiveness of purpose."
Blockade, however, implies not merely a sufficient number of cruisers
to prevent the entry or departure of merchant ships. It further
implies, because it requires, a strong supporting force sufficient to
resist being driven off by an attack from within or from without the
port; for it is an accepted tenet of international law that a blockade
raised by force ceases to exist, and cannot be considered
re-established until a new proclamation and reoccupancy of the ground
in force. Hence it follows that, prior to such re-establishment,
merchant vessels trying to enter or to depart cannot be captured in
virtue of the previous proclamation. Consequent upon this requirement,
therefore, the blockades on the north and on the south side, to be
secure against this military accident, should each have been supported
by a division of armored ships capable of meeting Cervera's division
on fairly equal terms; for, considering the sea distance between
Cienfuegos and Havana, one such division could not support both
blockades. It has already been indicated why it was impossible so to
sustain the Cienfuegos blockaders. The reason, in the last analysis,
was our insufficient sea-coast fortification. The Flying Squadron was
kept in Hampton Roads to calm the fears of the seaboard, and to check
any enterprise there of Cervera, if intended or attempted. The other
division of the armored fleet, however, was placed before Havana,
where its presence not only strengthened adequately the blockading
force proper, but assured also the safety of our naval base at Key
West, both objects being attainable by the same squadron, on account
of their nearness to each other.
It should likewise be noticed that the same principle of concentration
of effort upon the single purpose--the blockade--forbade, _a priori_,
any attempts at bombardment by which our armored ships should be
brought within range of disablement by heavy guns on shore. If the
blockade was our object, rightly or wrongly, and if a blockade, to be
secure against serious disturbance, required all the armored ships at
our disposal,--as it did,--it follows logically and rigorously that to
risk those ships by attacking forts is false to principle, unless
special reasons can be adduced sufficiently strong to bring such
action within the scope of the principle properly applied. It is here
necessary clearly to distinguish. Sound principles in warfare are as
useful and as necessary as in morals; when established, the
presumption in any case is all on their side, and there is no one of
them better established than concentration. But as in morals, so in
war, the application of principle, the certainty of right, is not
always clear. Could it always be, war would be an exact science; which
it is not, but an art, in which true artists are as few as in painting
or sculpture. It may be that a bombardment of the fortifications of
Havana, or of some other place, might have been expedient, for reasons
unknown to the writer; but it is clearly and decisively his opinion
that if it would have entailed even a remote risk of serious injury to
an armored ship, it stood condemned irretrievably (unless it conduced
to getting at the enemy's navy), because it would hazard the
maintenance of the blockade, our chosen object, upon which our efforts
should be concentrated.[2] There is concentration of purpose, as well
as concentration in place, and ex-centric action in either sphere is
contrary to sound military principle.
The question of keeping the armored division under Admiral Sampson in
the immediate neighborhood of Havana, for the purpose of supporting
the blockade by the lighter vessels, was one upon which some diversity
of opinion might be expected to arise. Cervera's destination was
believed--as it turned out, rightly believed--to be the West Indies.
His precise point of arrival was a matter of inference only, as in
fact was his general purpose. A natural surmise was that he would go
first to Puerto Rico, for reasons previously indicated. But if coal
enough remained to him, it was very possible that he might push on at
once to his ultimate objective, if that were a Cuban port, thus
avoiding the betrayal of his presence at all until within striking
distance of his objective. That he could get to the United States
coast without first entering a coaling port, whence he would be
reported, was antecedently most improbable; and, indeed, it was fair
to suppose that, if bound to Havana, coal exigencies would compel him
to take a pretty short route, and to pass within scouting range of the
Windward Passage, between Cuba and Haïti. Whatever the particular
course of reasoning, it was decided that a squadron under Admiral
Sampson's command should proceed to the Windward Passage for the
purpose of observation, with a view to going further eastward if it
should appear advisable. Accordingly, on the 4th of May, five days
after Cervera left the Cape de Verde, the Admiral sailed for the
appointed position, taking with him all his armored sea-going
ships--the _Iowa_, the _Indiana_, and the _New York_--and two
monitors, the _Amphitrite_ and the _Terror_. Of course, some smaller
cruisers and a collier accompanied him.
It is almost too obvious for mention that this movement, if undertaken
at all, should be made, as it was, with all the force disposable, this
being too small to be safely divided. The monitors promptly, though
passively, proceeded to enforce another ancient maritime
teaching,--the necessity for homogeneousness, especially of speed and
manoeuvring qualities, in vessels intending to act together. Of
inferior speed at the best, they had, owing to their small coal
endurance, and to minimize the delay in the progress of the whole
body, consequent upon their stopping frequently to coal, to be towed
each by an armored ship,--an expedient which, although the best that
could be adopted, entailed endless trouble and frequent stoppages
through the breaking of the tow-lines.
[Illustration: The Caribbean Sea (map)]
Shortly before midnight of May 7th, the squadron was twenty miles
north of Cape Haïtien, about six hundred sea miles east of Havana. It
was there learned, by telegrams received from the Department, that no
information had yet been obtained as to the movements of the Spanish
division, but that two swift steamers, lately of the American
Transatlantic line, had been sent to scout to the eastward of
Martinique and Guadaloupe. The instructions to these vessels were to
cruise along a north and south line, eighty miles from the islands
named. They met at the middle once a day, communicated, and then went
back in opposite directions to the extremities of the beat. In case
the enemy were discovered, word of course would be sent from the
nearest cable port to Washington, and to the Admiral, if accessible.
The two vessels were directed to continue on this service up to a
certain time, which was carefully calculated to meet the extreme
possibilities of slowness on the part of the Spanish division, if
coming that way; afterwards they were to go to a given place, and
report. It may be added that they remained their full time, and yet
missed by a hair's breadth sighting the enemy. The captain of one of
them, the _Harvard_, afterwards told the writer that he believed
another stretch to the south would have rewarded him with success. The
case was one in which blame could be imputed to nobody; unless it were
to the Spaniards, in disappointing our very modest expectations
concerning their speed as a squadron, which is a very different thing
from the speed of a single ship.
Among the telegrams received at this time by the Admiral from the
Department were reports of rumors that colliers for the Spanish
division had been seen near Guadaloupe; also that Spanish vessels
were coaling and loading ammunition at St. Thomas. Neither of these
was well founded, nor was it likely that the enemy's division would
pause for such purpose at a neutral island, distant, as St. Thomas is,
less than one hundred miles from their own harbors in Puerto Rico.
Immediately after the receipt of these telegrams, the Admiral summoned
all his captains between 12 and 4 A.M., May 9th, to a consultation
regarding the situation. He then decided to go on to San Juan, the
chief seaport of Puerto Rico, upon the chance of finding the Spanish
squadron there. The coaling of the monitors, which had begun when the
squadron stopped the previous afternoon, was resumed next morning. At
11.15, May 9th, a telegram from the Department reported a story,
"published in the newspapers," that the Spanish division had been seen
on the night of the 7th, near Martinique. The Department's telegram
betrayed also some anxiety about Key West and the Havana blockade;
but, while urging a speedy return, the details of the Admiral's
movements were left to his own discretion. The squadron then stood
east, and on the early morning of the 12th arrived off San Juan. An
attack upon the forts followed at once, lasting from 5.30 to 7.45
A.M.; but, as it was evident that the Spanish division was not there,
the Admiral decided not to continue the attack, although satisfied
that he could force a surrender. His reasons for desisting are given
in his official report as follows:--
"The fact that we should be held several days in completing
arrangements for holding the place; that part [of the
squadron] would have to be left to await the arrival of
troops to garrison it; that the movements of the Spanish
squadron, our main objective, were still unknown; that the
Flying Squadron was still north and not in a position to
render any aid; that Havana, Cervera's natural objective, was
thus open to entry by such a force as his, while we were a
thousand miles distant,--made our immediate movement toward
Havana imperative."
It will be noted that the Admiral's conclusions, as here given,
coincided substantially with the feeling of the Department as
expressed in the telegram last mentioned. The squadron started back
immediately to the westward. During the night of this same day,
Thursday, May 12th, towards midnight, reliable information was
received at the Navy Department that Cervera's squadron had arrived
off Martinique,--four armored cruisers and three torpedo destroyers,
one of the latter entering the principal port of the island.
The movements of the Spanish division immediately preceding its
appearance off Martinique can be recovered in the main from the log of
the _Cristobal Colon_, which was found on board that ship by the
United States officers upon taking possession after her surrender on
July 3. Some uncertainty attends the conclusions reached from its
examination, because the record is brief and not always precise in its
statements; but, whatever inaccuracy of detail there may be, the
general result is clear enough.
At noon on May 10th the division was one hundred and thirty miles east
of the longitude of Martinique, and fifteen miles south of its
southernmost point. Being thus within twelve hours' run of the island,
Admiral Cervera evidently, and reasonably, considered that he might
now be in the neighborhood of danger, if the United States Government
had decided to attempt to intercept him with an armored division,
instead of sticking to the dispositions known to him when he
sailed,--the blockade of Cuba and the holding the Flying Squadron in
reserve. In order not to fall in with an enemy unexpectedly,
especially during the night, the speed of the division was reduced to
something less than four knots, and the torpedo destroyer _Terror_ was
sent ahead to reconnoitre and report. The incident of her separating
from her consorts is not noted,--a singular omission, due possibly to
its occurring at night and so escaping observation by the _Colon_; but
it is duly logged that she was sighted "to port" next morning, May
11th, at 9 A.M., and that, until she was recognized, the crew were
sent to their quarters for action. This precaution had also been
observed during the previous night, the men sleeping beside their
guns,--a sufficient evidence of the suspicions entertained by the
Spanish Admiral.
At 10 A.M.--by which hour, or very soon afterwards, the communication
of the _Terror_ with the Admiral recorded by the log must have taken
place--there had been abundance of time since daybreak for a 15-knot
torpedo destroyer, low-lying in the water, to remain unseen within
easy scouting distance of Martinique, and thence to rejoin the
squadron, which would then be forty or fifty miles distant from the
island. She could even, by putting forth all her speed, have
communicated with the shore; possibly without the knowledge of the
American representatives on the spot, if the sympathies of the
inhabitants were with the Spaniards, as has been generally believed.
However that may be, shortly after her junction the division went
ahead again seven knots, the speed logged at noon of May 11th, which,
as steam formed, was increased to ten knots. At 4 P.M. Martinique was
abeam on the starboard hand--north. At sundown the ships went to
general quarters, and the crews were again kept at their guns during
the night. By this time Cervera doubtless had been informed that
Sampson's division had gone east from Cuba, but its destination could
have been only a matter of inference with him, for the attack upon San
Juan did not take place till the following morning. The fact of
keeping his men at quarters also justifies the conclusion that he was
thus uncertain about Sampson, for the stationariness of the Flying
Squadron would be known at Martinique.
After mentioning that the ship's company went to quarters, the log of
the _Colon_ adds: "Stopped from 5.15 to 6 A.M." Whether the 5.15 was
A.M. or P.M., whether, in short, the squadron continued practically
motionless during the night of May 11th-12th, can only be conjectured,
but there can be little doubt that it did so remain. The Spaniards
still observe the old-fashioned sea-day of a century ago, abandoned
long since by the British and ourselves, according to which May 12th
begins at noon of May 11th. A continuous transaction, such as stopping
from evening to morning, would fall, therefore, in the log of the same
day, as it here does; whereas in a United States ship of war, even
were our records as brief and fragmentary as the _Colon's_, the fact
of the stoppage, extending over the logs of two days, would have been
mentioned in each. It is odd, after passing an hour or two in putting
this and that together out of so incomplete a narrative, to find
recorded in full, a few days later, the following notable incident:
"At 2.30 P.M. flagship made signal: 'If you want fresh beef, send
boat.' Answered: 'Many thanks; do not require any.'" Log-books do
state such occurrences, particularly when matters of signal; but then
they are supposed also to give a reasonably full account of each day's
important proceedings.
Whatever the movements back and forth, or the absence of movement, by
the Spanish ships during the night, at 7.10 A.M. the next day, May
12th, while Sampson's division was still engaged with the forts at San
Juan, they were close to Martinique, "four miles from Diamond Rock," a
detached islet at its southern end. The next entry, the first for the
sea-day of May 13th, is: "At 12.20 P.M. lost sight of Martinique." As
the land there is high enough to be visible forty or fifty miles under
favorable conditions, and as the squadron on its way to Curaçao
averaged 11 knots per hour, it seems reasonable to infer that the
Spanish Admiral, having received news of the attack on San Juan,
though possibly not of the result, had determined upon a hasty
departure and a hurried run to the end of his journey, before he could
be intercepted by Sampson, the original speed of whose ships was
inferior to that of his own, and whom he knew to be hampered by
monitors.
The Spaniards did not take coal at Martinique. This may have been due
to refusal by the French officials to permit it, according to a common
neutral rule which allows a neutral only to give enough to reach the
nearest national port. As the ships still had enough to reach Curaçao,
they had more than enough to go to Puerto Rico. It may very well be,
also, that Cervera, not caring to meet Sampson, whose force, counting
the monitors, was superior to his own, thought best to disappear at
once again from our knowledge. He did indeed prolong his journey to
Santiago, if that were his original destination, by nearly two hundred
miles, through going to Curaçao; not to speak of the delay there in
coaling. But, if the Dutch allowed him to take all that he wanted, he
would in his final start be much nearer Cuba than at Martinique, and
he would be able, as far as fuel went, to reach either Santiago,
Cienfuegos, or Puerto Rico, or even Havana itself,--all which
possibilities would tend to perplex us. It is scarcely probable,
however, that he would have attempted the last-named port. To do so,
not to speak of the greater hazard through the greater distance,
would, in case of his success, not merely have enabled, but invited,
the United States to concentrate its fleet in the very best position
for us, where it would not only have "contained" the enemy, but have
best protected our own base at Key West.
In the absence of certain knowledge, conjectural opinions, such as the
writer has here educed, are not unprofitable; rather the reverse. To
form them, the writer and the reader place themselves perforce nearly
in Cervera's actual position, and pass through their own minds the
grist of unsolved difficulties which confronted him. The result of
such a process is a much more real mental possession than is yielded
by a quiet perusal of any ascertained facts, because it involves an
argumentative consideration of opposing conditions, and not a mere
passive acceptance of statements. The general conclusion of the
present writer, from this consideration of Cervera's position, and of
that of our own Government, is that the course of the Spanish Admiral
was opportunist, solely and simply. Such, in general, and necessarily,
must be that of any "fleet in being," in the strict sense of the
phrase, which involves inferiority of force; whereas the stronger
force, if handled with sagacity and strength, constrains the weaker
in its orbit as the earth governs the moon. Placed in an extremely
false position by the fault, militarily unpardonable, of his
Government, Admiral Cervera doubtless did the best he could. That in
so doing he caused the United States authorities to pass through some
moments of perplexity is certain, but it was the perplexity of
interest rather than of apprehension; and in so far as the latter was
felt at all, it was due to antecedent faults of disposition on our own
part, the causes of which have been in great measure indicated
already. The writer is not an angler, but he understands that there is
an anxious pleasure in the suspense of playing a fish, as in any
important contest involving skill.
To say that there was any remarkable merit in the movements of the
Spanish Admiral is as absurd as to attribute particular cleverness to
a child who, with his hands behind his back, asks the old conundrum,
"Right or left?" "It is all a matter of guess," said Nelson, "and the
world attributes wisdom to him who guesses right;" but all the same,
by unremitting watchfulness, sagacious inference, and diligent
pursuit, he ran the French fleet down. At Martinique, Admiral Cervera
had all the West Indies before him where to choose, and the United
States coast too, conditioned by coal and other needs, foreseen or
unforeseen. We ran him down at Santiago; and had he vanished from
there, we should have caught him somewhere else. The attempt of the
Spanish authorities to create an impression that some marvellous feat
of strategy was in process of execution, to the extreme discomfiture
of the United States navy, was natural enough, considering the straits
they were in, and the consciousness of the capable among them that a
squadron of that force never should have been sent across the sea;
but, though natural, the pretension was absurd, and, though echoed by
all the partisan Press in Europe, it did not for a moment impose as
true upon those who were directing the movements of the United States
ships.